tonystott wrote:
I am going to wait and see how many other people cope with using the spin kit before I write it off as some sort of catastrophic failure by Hobie....
Even though I've already written it off as a catastrophic bad purchase, I am still eagerly awaiting feedback from others with the AI2 to hear what they think of the spinnaker. What I didn't realize is once you install the spinnaker, according to the "instructions" you're expected to sail with the mainsail furled halfway while tacking even when the spinnaker is stowed. And tacking is a good portion of what I do while out sailing. Plus, that only covers the rear halyard issues and not the front halyard tangles that
WILL occur.
I wish that my observations were more positive as I was so looking forward to having a spinnaker on my AI2.
A sad thing is this discussion hasn't made it's way much to performance gained or fun factor with the spinnaker. Fun factor for me definitely went down significantly for most sailing. Once spinnaker deploys it feel pretty cool but not sure if there's much of a speed increase. Some, but not too much.
But yeah, if you have a spinnaker (especially the newer AI's), please share your experience.
Bargain hunters, Mine is still for sale ... $500 and you pay shipping. PM me.
Note to Matt: Maybe you should consider adding something to the "instructions" regarding trimming the battens. For people who don't come to the forum but purchase a kit.